CBC

CBC has acquired Red Production Company and AENON’s miniseries Butterfly through a deal with Fremantle. The three-episode, hour-long family drama will launch on the public broadcaster in late winter 2019. Created and penned by BAFTA winner Tony Marchant, Butterfly tells the story of an 11-year-old boy who decides he wants to live his life as a girl. The series, which was commissioned by ITV, stars Anna Friel, Emmett J. Scanlan and Callum Booth-Ford. Nicola Shindler, Caroline Hollick and Adam Keep serve as exec producers alongside Marchant. Butterfly is distributed globally by Fremantle.

Kew Media Group

Kew Media Group has picked up the worldwide sales rights to Nick Broomfield’s upcoming documentary Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love, which is world premiering at Sundance. The film tells the story of the relationship between Canadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian muse Marianne Ihlen. It follows the progression of their relationship from its early days in Greece, and its evolution through the period of “free love” and open marriage, to Cohen’s immense success as an artist. Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love was produced by Broomfield through his Lafayette Films production banner with Marc Hoeferlin, Shani Hinton and Kyle Gibbon.

Thunderbird Entertainment

Thunderbird Entertainment’s U.K.-based distribution arm Thunderbird Releasing has secured the rights to Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters for the U.K. and Ireland. Through the deal, the Palme d’Or winner debuted on Nov. 23 at venues in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin and throughout the U.K. The film follows a Tokyo family who relies on shoplifting to cope with a life of poverty and how they adopt an abused girl found abandoned on the street.

With files from Realscreen